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Infinity is not a number, and trying to treat it as one tends to be a pretty bad idea. At best you're likely to come away with a headache, at worse the firm belief that 1 = 0. This article discusses the different types of infinity.
This article offers an advanced perspective on random variables for the interested reader.
Dr James Grime takes an Enigma machine in to schools. Here he describes how the code-breaking work of Turing and his contemporaries helped to win the war.
Simon Singh describes PKC, its origins, and why the science of code making and breaking is such a secret occupation.
The third of three articles on the History of Trigonometry.
Some explanations of basic terms and some phenomena discovered by ancient astronomers
The second of three articles on the History of Trigonometry.
The first of three articles on the History of Trigonometry. This takes us from the Egyptians to early work on trigonometry in China.
This is the second article in a two part series on the history of Algebra from about 2000 BCE to about 1000 CE.
This is the first of a two part series of articles on the history of Algebra from about 2000 BCE to about 1000 CE.
This article gives a brief history of the development of Geometry.
The Four Colour Conjecture was first stated just over 150 years ago, and finally proved conclusively in 1976. It is an outstanding example of how old ideas can be combined with new discoveries. prove a mathematical theorem.
In Classical times the Pythagorean philosophers believed that all things were made up from a specific number of tiny indivisible particles called ‘monads’. Each object contained a different number of particles, and so they believed that ‘everything was number’.
In the time before the mathematical idea of randomness was discovered, people thought that everything that happened was part of the will of supernatural beings. So have things changed?
Noticing the regular movement of the Sun and the stars has led to a desire to measure time. This article for teachers and learners looks at the history of humanity's need to measure things.
Can you decode the mysterious markings on this ancient bone tool?
Can you make a hypothesis to explain these ancient numbers?
If you think that mathematical proof is really clearcut and universal then you should read this article.
This article -useful for teachers and learners - gives a short account of the history of negative numbers.
Hilbert's Hotel has an infinite number of rooms, and yet, even when it's full, it can still fit more people in!
Most stories about the history of maths seem to be about men. Here are some famous women who contributed to the development of modern maths and prepared the way for generations of female mathematicians.
The second in a series of articles on visualising and modelling shapes in the history of astronomy.
This article explores ths history of theories about the shape of our planet. It is the first in a series of articles looking at the significance of geometric shapes in the history of astronomy.
Have you ever wondered how maps are made? Or perhaps who first thought of the idea of designing maps? We're here to answer these questions for you.
Leonardo who?! Well, Leonardo is better known as Fibonacci and this article will tell you some of fascinating things about his famous sequence.
Find out about Magic Squares in this article written for students. Why are they magic?!
This short article gives an outline of the origins of Morse code and its inventor and how the frequency of letters is reflected in the code they were given.
When you think of spies and secret agents, you probably wouldn’t think of mathematics. Some of the most famous code breakers in history have been mathematicians.
When in 1821 Charles Babbage invented the `Difference Engine' it was intended to take over the work of making mathematical tables by the techniques described in this article.
An article which gives an account of some properties of magic squares.